50th anniversary of the first course of laser physics

The course titled "Quantum radiotechnology" was jointly organized by the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague ( FJFI ) and the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Academy of Sciences ( IPE ). ^[1]

There was a strong team of scientists in IPE around Dr. Viktor Trkal, Ph.D. and Jan Blabla, CSc. which already had significant achievements in the field of laser physics. It was therefore logical to ask these experts to prepare and teach at the course. This course is considered to be the first educational program in the field of laser physics in Czechoslovakia. A comprihensive textbook was published for the purposes of the individual lectures which was actually the first major publication on lasers in Czech. The textbook as well as the course itself was an important impulse for the development of a completely new and revolutionary technology of lasers in our country. Today, lasers are used everyday life and the research teams at IPE and FJFI are expanding the knowledge base about lasers and their applications a step further every day. Researchers in IPE focus on fiber lasers and amplifiers and the team at FJFI is currently interested in solid-state lasers.

Contact:
Adéla Michková, MSc. (michkova@ufe.cz, 266 773 429)
Pavel Peterka, Ph.D. (peterka@ufe.cz, 266 773 527)

For more information:

• Viktor Trkal, "50th anniversary of the first university course of quantum electronics in Prague," from the magazine "Pokroky matematiky, fyziky a astronomie", 58th edition (2013), n. 4 (in Czech only)
• Jan Blabla and Viktor Trkal, "The beginnings of quantum electronics at IPE," Čs. časopis pro fyziku, n. 4-5 (2010) pg. 221. (in Czech only)
• A. Novotný, H. Jelínková, V. Kubeček, M. Čech, I. Procházka, J. Blažej, "Lasery na Fakultě jaderné a fyzikálně inženýrské ČVUT," Čs. časopis pro fyziku, n. 4-5 (2010) pg. 238. (in Czech only)
• Selection of pages from the original course textbook (in Czech only)

^[1] Both organizations had different names back then: Faculty of nuclear physics (FTJF) and Institute of Radiotechnology and Electronics (IRE).